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Monday, April 27, 2009

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Yesterday there was a house there. It was old, run-down, and empty. I knew it was going to be torn down, hence – the fence around it for the last year. This has already happened to other houses on my street because the land here is so valuable, the small older homes are being torn down and replaced with ginormous houses – crammed onto the tiny lots.

So yes, I knew this one was going to go. HOWEVER! I did not expect it to start at 6:15 A.M. this morning! SATURDAY! And let me explain something. That house is maybe 50 yards from my bedroom window. I was not a happy camper.

Yesterday it was 80 degrees, so I was enjoying my first weekend sleep-in with the window wide open - of the year. I had no idea how loud the first strike into the roof of a garage with a – well – garage killing machine would be. I guess that would be an excavator.

So at that un-Godly hour I heard the rumble of a really really big truck outside my window. There was the sound of heavy chains being manipulated and hitting the ground. Various cars were arriving, doors slamming, guys yelling back and forth to each other. AT 6:15 IN THE MORNING!!!

I slammed my window hard enough for pieces of paint to rain down, only for my benefit of course, none of the guys out there could have heard it over the noise they were making. I turned on the television and at some point it started to rain and I fell back to sleep smiling.

The entire house and small 2-car garage were gone by 10:00 A.M. The rest of the time (till 4:00 P.M.-ish) was spent digging out the foundation and clearing debris. Oh, and sitting in their truck in front of my house, waiting for it to stop raining. The sun would come out, they’d start working again, it would cloud up and start raining again. And it rained HARD.

Karma I think.

But I can’t laugh too much. Once the lot is entirely ready – the building will begin. OY!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

But I DID stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night! Okay, couldn't resist. Actually, I got on the treadmill tonight, and kept my heart rate up for 20 minutes. I did do a cool down but probably not enough. Or maybe my heart is still racing because I AM SO MAD!!!!

Before I got on the torture-mill, I was watching TV and came in a minute too late to see this woman introduced, but it's probably better that I don't know who she was because I might be forced to hunt her down and force feed her a box of Ho-Ho's and chase it with a Yoo Hoo!! All the while forcing a candy necklace around her scrawny neck! UGH!!!!

Me-l-l-l-o-w-w .....

The discussion was about obesity not being "green". The twinkie was saying that obese people are more apt to drive a car than someone who is not obese, using more energy and polluting the planet. And oh - what about the over-consumption of food??? If you are obese it means you are eating more than you need. And if you are eating more food than you need, that food needs to be produced, it needs to be processed and transported, increasing the obese person's carbon footprint to something way larger than a thin persons.

It was suggested that if an obese person is using more of the earth's resources maybe they should be taxed on that somehow. Hmm. Interesting. And then it came around to possibly the point she was getting to all along! National Health care. IF we end up with National Health care, and by God if we do I will continue to keep my private insurance for as long as I possibly can, obese people should have to pay more out of pocket. She made the direct correlation between - if you over consume - you should pay more out of pocket for your health care.

So listen genius! There are plenty of people who eat - I'm sorry - over consume more than I do. You cannot look at someone and make the judgement that they over-consume by looking at them. You can't always see it hanging over their belt or under their chin. Could be it's their genetic makeup, could be they drive to the gym every day using energy by driving and by going to a building that has more bright lights than any place ought to? Over consumption my ass.

There IS a correlation between obesity and certain illnesses which is why I am trying my damnedest to NOT be obese. If she had used that as her argument I might have been willing to seriously hear what she had to say. But the cover it up with all this carbon footprint bull$hit - no way. This twinkie deserves an award for self righteous, intolerant, ignorant insensitivity. Not to mention outing herself as having absolutely no idea what causes obesity. Note to Twinkie - it's not as simple as "over-consuming" for every person. I will admit to hurling several really bad words as well as a hand gesture toward the TV on my way to the treadmill. And I don't usually raise my voice in anger at the TV.

I don't need much to push me toward the Ho Ho's (if I had any) anyway, luckily it was the treadmill that was beckoning me tonight. Oh and Twinkie? As far as the use of my car is concerned, I drive a 2001 and have only 52,000 miles on it. That footprint is generally much smaller than most who drive to work everyday. Fat OR thin.

So I should ask - is my sometime addiction to Pez a problem for you too?

Monday, April 20, 2009

Okay, this yoga thing has a big drawback for me. They expect you to breathe. I know, outrageous, right??? The woman on the DVD weighs about 98 lbs, probably has a BMI of 2, and I think she is something disguised as a human being, but isn't one. She expects people to take a deep breath while folding themselves in half, tucking your chin to your chest and effectively cutting off any pathway to get said air into the proper breathing organs. Not to mention trying to smother you (well, me!) with your own boobs while you hang upside down! And then when you exhale all that air you didn't get into your lungs to begin with - she expects you to stretch (and or bend) MORE!!!

And I'm betting you have been asked at some time in your life to take a deep breath and hold it(!) for a count of - say - 5. That's not too shocking. But what about exhaling all the way, get all that air out of there, and hold THAT for oh - a count of 5. Is there anybody who doesn't sort of start to panic when you realize you're not supposed to even attempt to pull that air into your body when you have just pushed as much out as possible? Yikes!Then of course I kept running into cats, sliding my leg behind me meOW! oops, sorry! Standing up - meeeOOWW!!! Gah! Sorry! And Norah thought it was great, she was right there on the floor with me thinking I was playing with her. Really sad when a cat is so bereft of proper cat entertainment they think a middle aged woman beached and wheezing on the carpet is fun!

Still, while I obviously wouldn't see any benefits from yoga only having done it 2 whole times, I can see if as part of a lifestyle change. I need to stop looking for inches and shape and weight, and keep making better food choices and do the yoga, or walking, or stepping (I ordered a compact stepper) and just live it, and things will change. I want it to happen NOW!!!! And whether or not either of my kids ever decide to spawn (as my daughter puts it) I still want to live as healthy a life as I can.

I am happy for women out there who are happy with their bodies, whatever shape they are in. More power TO them. But my joints hurt. I'm pre-diabetic. My blood pressure is high. And doggone it I used to feel pretty. I don't feel that way anymore. So - I need to keep moving. Healthier choices and exercise (gag) - if only I enjoyed any of those moving activities. Ick. But I will try. I need to live another day to post again.

* Oh, and everyone knows that the picture above is EXACTLY how I look when I am doing yoga. EXACTLY. (and I'm a little worried about you if you believe that!)

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Did I mention I bought some yoga DVDs, under the influence of Ambien? Not just any yoga DVDs, yoga for old people DVDs. So I guess my intentions were good but my confidence was lagging.Seeing as housework gets me winded, I figured I needed to start slow, right? So old people's yoga seemed perfect. It couldn't be that hard, there are 3 consecutive disks, which get progressively harder. But still for old people. So how hard could THAT be???

Well there's this little matter of not being incredibly old, just fat. There were times when I was supposed to bring my knees up to my chest which crushed my boobs into my stomach into my knees - and all that crushing made it freaking hard to breathe!!! Okay, so I improvised. Still - I was getting a bit pissed off that the little old lady in the video (not the instructor) was doing way better than I was. She had little boobs.

When the torture was over I was left lying on the living room floor on my back still trying to do the slow deep breaths and relax every part of my body. If I had been the least bit prepared I would have had a pillow and blanket within reach because I was going to have a hard time getting back up! But - I did 50 minutes. And it didn't even feel like 50 minutes so lets see if I can give it a go again. My track history isn't that good, but I'll give it a try. Because God knows - I need to do SOMETHING!

And if I can master old people's yoga, maybe I can graduate to something more difficult before I actually AM eligible for a senior discount everywhere I go.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

I wanted to do a follow up to my previous post about BrainsBreaker. Quick and painless, a few pictures to illustrate a point. Teena asked if you can choose how big or how small the pieces are. Well yes. By choosing the amount of pieces - and the size of the puzzle, you can choose the size of the pieces. Below behold my son, at 56 pieces, 90 pieces, and 132 pieces. I could choose less than 56 or more than 132 if I wanted, and I could also adjust the size of the puzzle as well. I didn't adjust the size of the puzzles in these pics, only the number of pieces. And no, I have no affiliation with BrainsBreaker. I just like it. :)

Andy at 56 pieces

Andy at 90 pieces

Andy at 132 pieces

And yes Dani, Andy would hate this. Oh well. Look at what a cute baby he was!!!As usual - click to see the pics bigger!!*

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

I've mentioned before that I like to do jigsaw puzzles online. I can't do them for real because of my cats, space, etc. So - I do them on my laptop. I downloaded an application from a site called BrainsBreaker. I like it because it allows me to take any image I have on my computer, or find online, and turn it into a puzzle. When I get tired of them I delete them and find new pictures. Here are some screenshots of puzzles I do, most I made from pictures I found online, some are of my kids, famous artwork, and some are puzzles that came with the application. They are ever-changing.

click to see bigger

Frequently I create puzzles and send them to my Mom. The application lets you do that, save them to a zip file or just email if you want. My Mom enjoys the puzzles and it's also a fun way to send a picture to someone, send it in a puzzle!

click to see bigger

If you think it looks cool and want to try it, you can download a trial version. If you want to buy it - it's $20.00. And for that price I've been using it for almost 4 years and have created bunches of puzzles. Kids may like it too - there are shelves, you can make a shelf of puzzles that are all cartoons, one that has all landscape and nature pics - a shelf for hard puzzles, a shelf for easy ones. Even in just the puzzles I've sent to my Mom I've gotten way more than $20.00 of enjoyment out of it.

click to see bigger

I like sharing things I find on the internet, especially something like this that isn't just static, where you can make it into what you want it to be. Besides. I got nothin' else right now. Can you tell? But don't hold that against this fun puzzle application! You might be surprised - it's almost old fashioned entertainment!

**Edited - You can make the puzzles as many or as few pieces you want, depending on the skill level of the person doing it. Nice!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

I have a suggestion for guys like my ex-boyfriend, who know A LOT about cars and can look passively aggressive while being polite. I would make the suggestion myself but my ex doesn't really talk to me, something about a faucet, and I won't see him, something about hearing him say "whoa! Have another sandwich!" Yeah.

But here's the deal. I brought my car to a small local place to get an estimate on getting my exhaust worked on. I have exhaust coming out where there is no pipe and the rattle rattle rattle boom boom boom (slight exaggeration) doesn't help either. So I got my estimate, the mechanic said he would check on availability of parts and call me. In the meantime I got on the Internet and went to some 'ask an expert' type sites to find out if my estimate was reasonable. And happily enough, it was! This mechanic was recommended by a hair dresser so you KNOW he had to be okay. But the last time I had my car worked on (at a different place) I felt so ripped off, like I got talked into things I didn't need, that I knew I had to take a different tack this time. Since this was, for lack of a better description, elective and not emergency surgery, I could take a bit more time deciding.

So the job thing. I think I would pay a guy to come with me when I get an estimate on car work, to be there and ask smart questions and steer things in the direction they need to go and not toward things I probably don't need. A car-guy backbone. Sort of. He could either take the car in for you and then call you with the estimate - or just go with you and act like the husband or boyfriend who isn't going to take any crap cause he speaks car just as well as those mechanics talk car. Like that.

A customer/mechanic liaison. So-to-speak. Being single and not always having the available male who knows about cars around, I would like the option to take someone with me. Even some of you married women might want to take advantage of a service like that if your husband is a different kinda guy than a car guy and you would like some support. And it wouldn't hurt if the guy looked a tiny bit scary, the little bit of implied danger could really work with some stubborn mechanics with their heart set on getting the nice lady to buy 4 new tires when she only needs two, or to have that alignment she doesn't want.

What do you think? I think there are guys out there who should start printing up business cards right now, I think there is a market for this. Would you use it?

Monday, April 13, 2009

Sunday, April 12, 2009

I have been experiencing a lot of consternation lately about this following thing on Blogger. Not that I don't want to follow and have my little avatar on other people's blogs and stuff. That's not the problem. I already subscribe to a lot of blogs through Google reader. When the following thing came out, I didn't realize it would show me posts in my reader, from all the blogs I started following. If I chose to follow a blog I was already subscribed to - I was getting duel posts, every time. Made me crazy.

I could not figure out for the life of me, how not to get those double posts. I looked all over my Blogger settings to no avail. I ended up choosing to either follow somebody - or to subscribe, but not both. I was annoyed by the way the 'following' blogs were separated out at the bottom, but at least I wasn't getting double posts anymore.

So if somebody started to follow my blog, and I wanted to follow theirs, most likely I was already subscribed. So I would follow, and UNsubscribe.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Remember that movie? Single White Female? Sam is heartbroken over the breakup with her boyfriend, and needs a new roommate. The girl who she accepts seems nice enough, but slowly starts to morph. Into Sam. She starts to dress like her, cuts her hair like her, and eventually it turns into a psycho slasher flick with the roommate trying to kill Sam to completely take over her life.

I'm afraid I have something similar going on at my house.

Jake has always been the alpha female (is there such a thing?) at our house. She would sleep with me, curled against my chest under the covers with her head resting on my arm. Every night.Slowly Abby (the evil one) has taken over that spot. It was sporadic at first but eventually Jake stopped trying to get the night time spot because Abby was always there first.

If I ever napped during the day which I rarely do anymore, Jake was always there to cuddle under the blanket with me on the couch. It seemed to make her so happy. Now, more than likely when Jake tries to burrow under the blanket, she comes nose to nose with Abby. Jake turns away in disgust.

One place that has always been associated with Jake in our house is the bathroom. She wants to go in there with me (or anybody else for that matter) because she wants them to turn the faucet on so she can drink some water at the sink. I know that when I head to the bathroom Jake is right behind me.

Today I walked into the bathroom and went right to the faucet. I turned on the water, adjusting so it was coming out at the right speed and turned to my right expecting to see Jake sitting on the toilet waiting for me to move so she could jump up on the counter. There was a cat sitting there all right. It was Abby. Jake was outside the doorway looking in - seeing one more time Abby had taken her place.

I'm starting to wonder if I need to keep sharp objects away from Abby for Jake's safety. I know she doesn't have opposable thumbs but I'm thinking the evil part might override that. It's just an .. uneasy feeling these days. Did you feel that chill?

Monday, April 6, 2009

Thursday, April 2, 2009

I have a thing. It's something that bothers me and I'm not sure which aspect bothers me more. The fact that she does this - or the fact that it bothers me that she does this. Okay, I'll spill. I work with a woman who is a bit of an older mom with a husband and one child. Said child is now a freshman in high school and heavily involved in sports.

Expectations are very high for - I'll call her Randi. Grades are A's and if not - why not? Her sports are taken seriously with both parents going to every single practice and every single game or meet possible. And Randi is good. Of course she does have the benefit of a good mind and some private coaching. When Randi wants something, Randi usually gets it. She's rarely in trouble although at this age she is starting to clash with her dad sometimes, but for the most part she is a good kid. Her parents know her friends, her friends parents, and know where she is at all times. No, they really do.

During work sometimes Randi's mom will go on the school's website to check on Randi's grades. She always knows what day there is a test, hell - she knows what TIME the test is. When her husband calls, Randi is what they talk about. Randi has practice, Randi needs her bag, Randi needs some protein before she goes to play ball.

There is some super emeshment going on there which may seem a bit weird to me because my family has always been the opposite. My mom was lucky if she ever knew where I was at that age, and when or if I was coming home. I was a rotten teenager with very few redeeming qualities. Maybe my mom didn't keep track because she was hoping one day I might just wander off and not come back. Whew! What a relief! Okay, she wouldn't have felt like that. But lets just say I gave her enough aggravation that I came home one night and found her drinking something nasty like blueberry brandy right out of the bottle. And my mom didn't drink.

Anyway.

I think I've said it before, I told my kids that their rooms were their own. I would not go through their stuff, they would have privacy. Unless of course they gave me cause. If there was cause I told them I would toss their rooms, turn them upside down until I was satisfied I had found anything I needed to find. Never had to do it.

Sometimes I think it's easier for me to feel 16 and comfortable leaving my diary open on my bed, than being an almost 50 year mother of 2 grown *sniff sniff* kids - whose privacy I respect. But I do. Respect their privacy I mean. So when this gal at work starts talking about some things I have a tendency to jump on her - and I always feel bad. It's not my place to tell her she's right or she's wrong, but DAMN! Honestly I can't help myself.

The last time was when she told me she went on to Randi's Facebook page, and saw a friend there that might not be a good influence. She called her husband and he went on Randi's Facebook page and blocked the friend! I about wigged out! He WHAT????? You have a good kid!! Why are you on her Facebook page? And even if it's okay with her that you look at her page - what's with dad BLOCKING someone on HER PAGE??? Okay, bloooooood pressssuuurrreee... ohm...

The next thing and most recent, and I kept my mouth mostly shut for this one, was "I went to Randi's Facebook page and one of her friends was asking one of her other friends whether Randi and he are back together again!" Wait a minute. You're SPYING on her??? "No, I'm not spying." But you're going on there with the sole reason of seeing if she's maybe seeing that young guy again, cause you think it's cute. Even though she's not supposed to have a boyfriend yet. "It IS cute. I just wanna seeeeee...!!!"

And for some reason this makes me crazy. Randi really is a good kid, the 'gets everything she wants' part is offset by the very high expectations for grades, appearance, manners, etc. She is so busy with her sports she would barely have TIME to get in any trouble. I just wish her mom would start loosening up the strings a bit. Let the kid have some thoughts even, that aren't monitored by mom and dad. Give her a little freedom to make her own mistakes. If the friend was a bad influence, talk to her but let her make the decision to remove the other kid. Don't do it FOR her without even telling her! And don't go to her Facebook page to see if that cute blond boy is coming around again. Don't you know how mortifying parents are to a young teenager!?!?? Let her tell YOU!

Guide her. Teach her. Give her a good solid foundation for her life. And then - let HER live it. TRUST her to live it.

I read this at Bev's Jewelry. I thought it was valuable enough to steal! Okay, I asked, but she said to pass it on!

Bev said:"Yesterday, I received an email from a friend in Florida that basically summarizes the correct (and polite) way to forward emails. I thought I'd share it with you all. Feel free to send it on to others who could use the information."

You probably already know most of the following article, but you probably have some friends that do not.

HOW TO FORWARD E-MAIL APPROPRIATELY

A friend who is a computer expert received the following directly from a system administrator for a corporate system. It is an excellent message that ABSOLUTELYapplies to ALL of us who send e-mails.

Please read the short letter below, even if you're sure you already follow proper procedures.

Please share it with your email buddies!

Do you really know how to forward e-mails? Most of us DO NOT know how.

Do you wonder why you get viruses or junk mail? Do you hate it?

Every time you forward an e-mail, there is information left over from the people who got the message before you -- namely their e-mail addresses & names.As the messages get forwarded along, the list of addresses builds, and builds, and builds, and all it takes is for some poor sap to get a virus, and hisor her computer can send that virus to every email address that has come across his computer. Or, someone can take all of those addresses and sell themor send junk mail to them in the hopes that you will go to the site and he will make five cents for each hit. That's right, all of that inconvenience overa nickel!

How do you stop it? Well, there are several easy steps:

(1) When you forward an e-mail, DELETE all of the other addresses that appear in the body of the message (at the top). That's right, DELETE them. Highlightthem and delete them, backspace them, cut them, whatever you know how to. It only takes a second. You MUST click the 'Forward' button first and thenyou will have full editing capabilities against the body and headers of the message. If you don't hit the forward button first you won't have full editingfunctions . I particularly dislike having to scroll through 200 Email addresses before I get to the email.

(2) Whenever you send an e-mail to more than one person, do NOT use the 'To:' or 'Cc:' fields for adding e-mail addresses.. Always use the BCC: (blind carboncopy) field for listing the e-mail addresses. This is the way the people you send to will only see their own e-mail address.

If you don't see your 'BCC:' option click on where it says To: and your address list will appear. Highlight the address and choose BCC: and that's it, it'sthat easy. When you send to BCC: your message will automatically say 'Undisclosed Recipients' in the 'TO:' field of the people who receive it.

That way you aren't sharing all those addresses with every Tom, Dick or Harry.

(3) Remove any 'FW:' in the subject line. You can re-name the subject if you wish or even fix spelling.

This one is very important - please read and heed

(4) ALWAYS hit your Forward button from the actual e-mail you are reading. Ever get those e-mails that you have to open 10 pages to read the one page withthe information on it? By Forwarding from the actual page you wish someone to view, you stop them from having to open many e-mails just to see what yousent. These are the ones that often end up having picked up a virus from somebody. This is really important!

(5) Have you ever gotten an email that is a petition? It states a position and asks you to add your name and address and to forward it to 10 or 15 peopleor your entire address book. The email can be forwarded on and on and can collect thousands of names and email addresses.

A FACT: The completed petition is actually worth a couple of bucks to a professional spammer because of the wealth of valid names and email addresses containedtherein. If you want to support the petition, send it as your own personal letter to the intended recipient. Your position may carry more weight as a personalletter than a laundry list of names and email address on a petition. (Actually, if you think about it, who's supposed to send the petition in to whatevercause it supports? And don't believe the ones that say that the email is being traced, it just isn't so!)

(6) One of the main ones I hate is the ones that say that something like, 'Send this email to 10 people and you'll see something great run across your screen.'Or, sometimes they'll just tease you by saying something really cute will happen.

IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!!!!! (Trust me, I'm still seeing some of the same ones that I waited on 10 years ago!) I don't let the bad luck ones scare me either,they get trashed. (Could this be why I haven't won the lottery??)

(7) Before you forward an Amber Alert, or a Virus Alert, or some of the other ones floating around nowadays, check them out before you forward them. Mostof them are junk mail that's been circling the net for Years!